7 Sailors Missing after Navy destroyer collision off Japan

Washington (CNN) Seven US sailors are missing and the commanding officer of a US destroyer is injured after the warship collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan, the US Navy said Friday.

The USS Fitzgerald suffered damage to its starboard side above and below the waterline in the incident. Cmdr. Bryce Benson was one of two injured sailors who needed to be flown to a naval hospital in Yokosuka, Japan.He is in stable condition, the Navy said

Other injured are being assessed, the Navy added.

The two ships collided in the Pacific Ocean about 56 nautical miles off the coast of Yokosuka, the Japanese coast guard has told CNN. The damage to the Fitzgerald resulted in some flooding, the Navy said.

3. Hard to imagine how this could happen

6. With all the high tech radar etc, etc,its really hard to imagine and

yes, I agree..But could there have been some sort of hijacking? a Cmdr. is or should be experienced enough to maneuver his ship away from the path of any ships using the manpower and tech.gadgets he would have on the Bridge....

37. Agreed

Somebody was asleep at the switch, in an area of high shipping traffic. I presume our Navy has the capacity to track a one-man sub that would try to blow up a ship, how they missed a vessel this big can only be explained by gross incompetence.

33. Doesn't matter if he was on duty or not.

He's the Captain. It's his responsibility. He'll never command another ship again, and when he can't get promoted, he'll be retired. Shame, since he just assumed command of the ship, his first command, a month ago.

8. The sea is not kind and ships are floating buildings.

It takes a destroyer three nautical miles to stop. It takes a cargo ship up to five. Turning is difficult.

If the radar fritzed, if there was fog, if someone bobbled a decimal point in the nav math... well, the sea is not kind. It is an environment hostile to human life and requires consideration every single moment.

Many hopes and best thoughts from one Naval daughter to all of those on the sea tonight.

11. Holy Moses!

12. Can it do the maneuver as its taking on water and possible other damage to the hull and equipment?

I am a sailor....I know how to do an emergency MOB maneuver too, but if my boat has been hit and taking on water and maybe even damage that effects my ability to maneuver the boat, it might limit a lot of my ability.

38. Ok, makes sense

17. There's one OOW..

(Officer on Watch or Officer of the Watch) who's got an awful lot of explaining to do, along with the rest of that particular watch crew. Negligence that leads to running your ship into something, much less losing crew members and getting your Skipper banged up in the process, will pretty well end a career at best. I feel a little cringe and tightening of the stomach just thinking about the "conversations" said OOW is in for.

29. How could this have happened?

Part of an eight-ship squadron based in Yokosuka, the Fitzgerald had in February completed $21 million worth of upgrades and repairs.

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Japan's Nippon Yusen KK, which charters the container ship, ASX Crystal, said in a statement it would "cooperate fully" with the Coast Guard's investigation of the incident. At around 29,000 tons displacement, the ship dwarfs the 8,315-ton U.S. warship, and was carrying 1,080 containers from the port of Nagoya to Tokyo.

None of the 20 crew members aboard the container ship, all Filipino, were injured, and the ship was not leaking oil, Nippon Yusen said. The ship arrived at Tokyo Bay around 5:00 p.m. (0800 GMT), sailing under its own power, the Coast Guard said.